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As someone who is in no way an expert, I can't speak to all forms of anxiety because I know there are many. (That being said, if I was like Fox News, and it wasn't just my anxiety that is like Fox News, I would hardly let that stop me.) But in my case, anxiety is JUST like Fox News.
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My entire life I have had the unfortunate ability to convince myself that something, somewhere close to me is very wrong. An intruder. A gas leak. A rabid animal. Someone I love is getting into a car destined for an accident....more

It never fails. You think you have your day together, you’ve worked yourself up to dealing with hygiene, dressing and maybe on a really good day, making toast. It takes so much just to get your shoes on the right feet. Or find your shoes. Or your feet....more

The fundamental premise of this essay is this, and if you don’t agree, then none of the words that come after these will make sense to you or sway you to my position: Health is a right, not a privilege.So if you’re with me there, then perhaps you’ll find something useful in the next several paragraphs. My position, founded on the statement above, is honed in 20 years health care experience that includes working as provider in a country that operates a “socialized medicine” model....more

In the wake of the recent anxiety storm over Apple and Google’s collection of data through phones, the chatter about privacy and data mining rose by a few dozen decibels, as well it should have. As consumers who seldom think beyond convenience and entertaining gadgetry, we need to fully understand the flow of information that affords us those services....more

While working a very busy job as the speech pathologist between several hospitals, the therapist who normally handled home-health patients took a vacation. Why? At the time I concluded principally to inconvenience me. She may in fact have had other motivations. So, of course, on a particularly busy day, I got a call that a home health patient had been referred. To make matters even better, the patient was nearly an hour away. I complained. A lot.
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Like markers on ancient highways, they measure my life's distance. I can look back and see the impressions they make in the earth I build by living. Yet they are dwarfed in number by the pebbles. The great stepping stones of my most significant moments swim in a sea of pebbles - the memories of the lopsided birthday cake and the puppy with the muddy feet.
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I run. I run because I’m a woman in my 40’s and I need to exercise to live the life I want to live for a long as I hope to live it. But I do not like it. I play tricks on myself to run. I play games with my brain to push myself. A half-mile is an extra cookie. Or I taunt myself. Just run until the end of this song. You can do that much, can’t you? This is how I get any reasonable distance out of myself. And by reasonable, I mean reasonable for me. I’m satisfied with that. ...more

I started thinking about it on Valentine's Day for two reasons. One, a humorous post about things not to do, including giving gas-station flowers. And two, a post written by a woman in pain over being alone.An odd combination, perhaps, but the connection was made. I started thinking about my divorce.I divorced a kind, intelligent man....more

We move through our time on this earth doing a million and ten things, with a thousand and one goals, and tens of hundreds of to-do lists. But in our minds are bigger thoughts: I want to turn my kids into good people, I want to leave the world a little better than I found it, I want to touch someone’s life. And often -– in the cosmic humor that surrounds us –- we raise amazing people, make things better, touch people in amazing ways but don’t know, or never see.
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